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HIV could be eliminated by 2030, scientists say

While it has been assumed for quite some time that early treatment of HIV is better than delayed treatment, researchers finally have the evidence to announce in confidence that early treatment results in half the rate of death and complications.

This announcement was big news at the AIDS conference in Vancouver last month. If routine yearly testing for HIV becomes the norm across the globe, researchers believe they could eventually eliminate HIV altogether. Currently, an estimated 19 million people across the globe - or more than half of those living with HIV - have not been tested and don't realize they have it.

"If 90% of all HIV-positive people in the world get tested by the year 2020, and 90% of those who test positive go on treatment, and 90% of those on treatment have effective suppression of their HIV infection, then research predicts that new HIV infections will finally be eliminated by 2030" says HIV specialist Jessica Justman. Researchers are calling it the "90-90-90" endgame. Right now, the world is at less than 50% for the first two of those 90s.